Thursday, January 31, 2008

Emerald Creatures

I'm being lazy again. Here's another email from Trav.

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i did a bit 'o' research today, and on the completely inconsequential tip, grimace's emerald uncle, uncle o'grimacey, did indeed exist sometime around the late 60's, early 70's...if you type his name into google there is a link that references him by name and has a downloadable (which i can't do here) version of one of o'grimacey's finest moments...i'm assuming "the moment" involves shamrock shakes in one way or another...

joe should change the lyrics of that song to be about o'grimacey's "moment" w/ the shamrock shakes...(slurping through a red straw, at what i left behind, in the bottom of my shake cup, we're talkin' mint, not lime)...ok, its not that good...that's why i don't write lyrics...

then we should change the song's title..."the failsafe momentary lament of al o'grimacey" anyone?

word...i'll be around...
trav

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So I did my own research... and found this site (which is what I think Travis is refering to.)

Enjoy.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Vandalism at its finest

I rarely post about certain specific topics. Today is hardly an exception.

I've got an interest, a prospect, things that I've got in the works.

In time, I'll be able to say whether or not those things fall into place or onto place... what have you.

Work is not kicking my ass as much, but I'm still busy as hell. I've finally gotten into the new database. It's a good thing I did all of that reading last year. I would be lost as hell without it. It's also a good thing I know how to read.

Where the i Divides rocked another set at the Klinic last Friday. It was lackluster this time around. Joe decided it would be awesome to knock a mic stand into me while I was playing a solo. The solo didn't turn out so well.

With the work not as pressing, I have a few more hours in the evening to work on new song demos to distribute to Trav and Joe. Trav-zilla and I usually write stuff together with him playing root progressions while I crank out some generic delay loops. We slap the song together and then I hide in my lab drafting drum loops and guitar layers. After that, the songs go to Trav for him to come up with his parts without the pressure of me demanding that he have the perfect part RIGHT NOW!!! After he gets his confusion figured out, (I was thinking that Confusion would be a good name for a dog.) we record them on the demos and ship them off to Joe so he can gum up the sound with lyrics. Danny... well, he just plays drums so it's all, "What order do I hit the drums this time... duh... I'm hungry!"

What was I posting about... oh yeah, the universe.

Here's to four more months. This is going to be the best summer ever. (First time spoken this year, January 19th)

PS. BPilgrim. I'll hit your blog if/when we play in your area. (I'm hoping it's sooner than later.)

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Two in a row?

I'm just throwing this up like spaghetti on a wall. It made me chuckle. If you knew about the fortune cookie, you would laugh too.

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Travis Wrote:

yeah...i've been constructing a time machine from old fortune cookie missives, toothpicks, popsicle sticks, and plumber's putty to transport me back to 2007 to get this done (now, that's "effort")...i think there's an outboard motor somewhere on that thing, but i'm not sure...(cookie says "your time machine is a death trap")

...i'm going to need safety goggles to properly traverse time...although if i put my eye out i suppose i could just travel back in time and prevent the whole "losing an eye" thing as well

...but first i have to fill out that application...busy, busy, etc...anybody need anything from 2007? be quick, decisive, and thorough...i ain't makin' two trips...

but seriously, these people don't seem to have "their stuff" together yet...who's in charge there?...so, i would say that we're "ahead of the curve"...take a moment and drink in that feeling...ok, that's long enough...

later
trav

Monday, January 21, 2008

Weekend up

My last guitar session was yesterday. Trav and I finished up our tracks on USA #1 and Cinnamon Magic. I only have four songs where I need to set up some studio effects on certain tracks but we can do that during the mixing process. Then I'll be done. (yeah right!)

Next on the docket, vocals. Joe says he is ready for them. He's not going through a sordid breakup/divorce this time around so we'll see what happens. It has been almost 12 months to the day since we first began recording this stupid album. I'm feeling certain that he will do better this time.

Danny's buddy is working on cover art. He's an out of work tattoo artist who offered to come up with some different illustrations for the title "Over the Terminal Moraine". I think he has a good sense of what I envision it to be and he'll do a good job on it. It's nice to have other artists who are willing to throw in their two cents on an idea. I could do it myself, but I have felt like I wouldn't ever come up with something that I would be happy with. Best to let someone else do it and keep my hands out of it.

That's about it for studio news.

I'm more wrapped up in writing new songs. I've come up with a really cool idea using a long delay (about 700 milliseconds with a short decay) that has a couple differnt ways it can be applied. This isn't going to be one of those "crank it out and move on to the next idea" songs either. It's going to be a slow, over-analyzed process of trying out different directions for additional sections and then a long and tedious process of arranging those parts into an aggreable addition the the "Doomsday Annie" collection. (Doomsday Annie is the working title for the new batch of songs. Our idea was to create some sort of linking concept for our second album and Trav offered up an idea of a comet smashing into the earth. He penned a list of potential situations that differnt people would be in on their last night alive before the planet was destroyed and I've sort of used those ideas as mental templates for sonic directions. Once Joe gets lyrics written I'm going to make him settle on a track order and then take the time to come up with some musical segues. We talked about doing that with some of the songs on the first album but we were already in the thick of recording and I didn't want to take the time in the studio (on the clock) to craft some half-baked ideas that may or may not have worked out.)

We already have 8 new songs in reserve.
Track list (most titles are working titles only):
1. Cinnamon Magic
2. Pandora's Fuzzbox
3. Yes or No
4. The Lament of Al Davis
5. Cicada City
6. Enough Already
7. Nine
8. Song That Saves the World From Self-destruction

Writing the songs for our second album could potentially be finished in the next few months, allowing that I don't decide some songs suck and shouldn't be used. (Cicada City) I've got other new ideas popping up all the time, I just need to take the time to flesh them out. That's mainly due to my new christmas present of an ipod. It's been three years since my old mp3 player was ripped off. It makes the hours standing in front of a computer and copier fly by these days. Work? No... I was researching new ideas to steal and use on upcomming songs.

But enough about that... other mysteries occupy my mind and I'm keeping those in my head.

34 days (or so) until the Birkie!

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

And other assorted german phrases...

First offical day back at the routine.

I finally got out to do some cross-country skiing yesterday. I had been waiting for the shop I purchased my new skis from to put on the new bindings. I think they may have called me to let me know that they were ready for pick up but I never got a message... just a hang up from a downtown number. Hmm...

I've been using an old pair of Alpina skis and boots that I'm pretty sure were manufactured to convince people to stay away from cross-country skiiing. The boots were the most uncomfortable footware on the planet.

But all that's changed. I also got a new pair of boots. Boots designed for the backcountry. Long days out treking. Comfort was the word of the day.

The skis are slick. Super fast. They don't grip as well as they should, but I can take care of that with a little base tweaking. On the flats I was having a blast just cruising without even really having to exert any effort. The hills were a little sketchy but managable.

All in all, good first day of the year. After Skiing, I made a huge pot of chili. Kicked back and sat next to the fireplace while zoning out to the dull glow of televison.

I have about six more weeks of "training" before the Birkie. Will I be ready?

(probably not.)